A presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Professor Ben Ayade, has secretly obtained senatorial forms of the ruling party, SaharaReporters has gathered.
Ayade had on April 26 declared his interest to run for the office of the Nigerian president.
He had claimed to have secured the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari, leading to his disclosure to contest for the presidential ticket of the party.
On Monday, a support group presented the N100m APC presidential forms to the Cross River governor.
While accepting the forms, Ayade said he has governed Cross River well and can do the same for the entire country.
However, an APC document seen by SaharaReporters showed that the governor also obtained the N20m expression of interest and nomination forms for the Cross River senatorial election.
Ayade is seeking to represent Cross River North senatorial district in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
A source told SaharaReporters that another senatorial aspirant from the district has entered a pact to act as a placeholder for the governor.
“You know senatorial primaries will come before presidential, so that aspirant who I don’t want to mention his name will get the Cross River North senatorial ticket,” an APC member said.
“If the governor fails to get the presidential ticket of our party, then his front who got the senatorial ticket will step down and he will be replaced by the governor.”
